At 12:55 PM 10/20/2005, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> > here's a little clue. I was in a shitty job. I stood up for myself, got
> > laid off for refusing to work 16 hrs and have a much worse life now.
> > Assholes that tell you otherwise are assholes. Now I work 16 hours a day
> > and face the prospect of working that much every day, seven days a week
>for
> > many many years in order to survive. And yes, the prospect of moving ito a
> > homeless shelter is a very real one. this asshole needs to catch an errant
> > clue. what a fucking asshole.
>
>Interesting. I was in a shitty but very safe (government) job as well. I
>also stood up, filed a grievance with the union, I thought we "organized"
>people for the cause, but when the investigators arrived, I learned that I
>was alone - only one other person testified. Well, "we" lost. They could
>not fire me, but the asshole bosses made my life miserable. I got some
>legal advice, visited a shrink, resigned, and filed a court claim for mental
>health injury. I won back pay, but was without a job. My former co-workers
>thought I was nuts, giving up a secure government job for nothing at all.
>
>Guess what happened next. I enrolled in a graduate school, did some
>consulting for local gov't while my ex was waitressing - so we could barely
>pay our bills. A few years later we split up - she got Fulbright and then
>went to the New School, while I went to Rutgers, got my PhD and the current
>job at Hopkins. It won't make me rich, to be sure, but I am not starving
>either.
>
>Now comes the funny part. They guys who backed out of the grievance and
>decided to stick with their bosses - they all lost their jobs when the place
>was restructured a few years later. They could not fire them, all right,
>but they made them redundant. One of them died in a DUI accident, another
>went back to Poland where he ain't making it either, still another one got a
>restraining order from his wife, enlisted and served in Iraq where he got
>wounded, still another one retired - I lost track of the others.
>
>So it did pay for me to stand up.
>
>Wojtek
>
>
>
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